to prepare or mix (plaster) with a definite proportion of plaster of Paris and mortar.

6.

to chip or rub (bricks or stones) to a uniform size or shape.

noun

7.

a standard of measure or measurement.

8.

a standard dimension, size, or quantity.

9.

any device or instrument for measuring, registering measurements, or testing something, especially for measuring a dimension, quantity, or mechanical accuracy:

pressure gauge; marking gauge.

10.

a means of estimating or judging; criterion; test.

11.

extent; scope; capacity:

trying to determine the gauge of his own strength.

12.

Ordnance. a unit of measure of the internal diameter of a shotgun barrel, determined by the number of spherical lead bullets of a diameter equal to that of the bore that are required to make one pound:

a twelve-gauge shotgun.

13.

Railroads. the distance between the inner edges of the heads of the rails in a track, usually 4 feet 8.5 inches (1.4 meters) (standard gauge) but sometimes more (broad gauge) and sometimes less (narrow gauge)

14.

the distance between a pair of wheels on an axle.

15.

the thickness or diameter of various, usually thin, objects, as the thickness of sheet metal or the diameter of a wire or screw.

16.

the fineness of a knitted fabric as expressed in loops per every 1.5 inches (3.8 cm):

15 denier, 60 gauge stockings.

17.

Nautical. the position of one vessel as being to the windward (weather gauge) or to the leeward (lee gauge) of another vessel on an approximately parallel course.

18.

Building Trades. the portion of the length of a slate, tile, etc., left exposed when laid in place.

19.

the amount of plaster of Paris mixed with mortar or common plaster to hasten the set.

Origin

1375-1425;late Middle English < Old North French (Frenchjauge) < Germanic

gauge

v.

"ascertain by exact measurements," mid-15c., from Anglo-French gauge (mid-14c.), from Old North French gauger (Old French jauger), from gauge "gauging rod," perhaps from Frankish *galgo "rod, pole for measuring" or another Germanic source (cf. Old Norse gelgja "pole, perch," Old High German galgo; see gallows). Related: Gauged; gauging. The figurative use is from 1580s.

n.

"fixed standard of measure," early 15c. (surname Gageman is early 14c.), from Old North French gauge "gauging rod" (see gauge (v.)). Meaning "instrument for measuring" is from 1680s.